A delivery story in NC

In 2003 after getting my first job after college, I purchased my first new car. It was a VW Jetta. That was my first and only experience purchasing a car for myself until today.

I have wanted a Tesla since ~2011 and I purchased stock that year. I put down a reservation for a Model S, but couldn't afford it when the time came. When the Model 3 was announced, I jumped on it and reserved in line day 1.

Today I took an Uber to the local Tesla from CarMax after having sold my Jetta for $500. It was bittersweet selling the car I loved for 15 years for so little, but doing it to get my Model 3 was totally worth it.

I got to the Tesla SC 15 minutes early. They sat me in the waiting room and I read the, "Elon Musk: This book is about rockets" book they had in the lobby. About the time I finished it they brought me to my car.

As I am in NC, I had to take care of the paperwork earlier so I only needed to review the car and drive away. I had printed out a checklist, but I didn't use it. The delivery specialist was very thorough with me and covered the whole car and I felt no need to review the checklist.

After coming from a stick shift, I am still getting used to the accelerator. I love the strength of the regen, but it is definitely stronger than engine braking and will take me a little bit to get used to. It drives excellently. Very smooth and responsive steering. I ran my Jetta in autocrosses often and had very good aftermarket suspension on it. The Model 3 handles better hands down.

I am thrilled to have the car. I look forward to owning it for a long time to come.

Happy to answer any questions about my experience with delivery or driving the car.

 

Not sure if it is all of NC or just Charlotte. At least the Charlotte store does not have a dealership license (NC dealerships blocked them). They emailed me the paperwork. I printed it, signed and notarized it, then sent it back with the included overnight shipping label.

 

I received loan documents (since I got my loan through Tesla), a title application, odometer disclosure statement, damage disclosure statement, a power of attorney (for Tesla to work with the title on your behalf), and a shipping label to overnight it. The shipping label's destination address was Tesla in Raleigh.

Edit: I received those documents to my wife's email address because apparently there is a bug in their system where my secondary contact showed up as the primary. I've corrected them on this multiple times.

 

One thing I forgot to do that hopefully you did is keep a digital copy of the signed and notarized paperwork just in case something happens to it in the mail or they don't receive it in time.

 

For those taking delivery in Charlotte, I think getting paperwork close to the delivery date may be normal. I received mine the Thursday before my Monday delivery. I sent it out the next day and it was delivered Monday morning. Unfortunately it doesn't leave much room for problems. Definitely scan signed and notarized copies before sending.